Melvin Ernest Sherwin (July 17, 1881 – January 5, 1924) was an American soil scientist, agronomist, academic, and founding member of FarmHouse fraternity. He was a professor and department head in soil sciences at what is now North Carolina State University.

Serwin was born in South Dakota on July 17, 1881.^[1][2] He enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1903 and graduated with a B.S. in agriculture in 1908.^[3] While there, he became one of the seven founders of the FarmHouse fraternity on April 15, 1905.^[4]

He received an M.A. in agriculture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1909.^[5]

While he was a graduate student, Shewin was an instructor of agronomy at the University of California.^[6] In the fall of 1909, he became an assistant professor of agronomy at the University of Maine.^[6][5] In 1910, he joined the faculty the North Carolina State College of Agriculture & Mechanical Arts (now North Carolina State University) as a professor of soils and the head of its soils department.^[5][7] This was the first professional position in soils at the university.^[7]

Sherwin was noted for his investigative work with drainage lines.^[2] In November 1936, he was elected president of the North Carolina Drainage Association.^[8] He wrote a laboratory guide on soils that was used as a textbook in North Carolina's agricultural high schools.^[2] He also helped train county agricultural agents, spoke at the North Carolina Drainage Convention, and presented a paper at the conference of the North Carolina Academy of Science.^[9][10][11] He also spoke at the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers in February 1921.^[12]

Sherwin was married Edith Dodson of Centrilia, Missouri.^[13] The couple had five children, including Sidney T Sherwin and Edith Evelyn Sherwin.^[2][14][15] He lived on Avent Ferry Road in Raleigh, North Carolina and owned a farm in Hyde County, near Lake Mattamuskeet.^[2][1]

On January 3, 1924, he became ill and fell unconscious from uremic acidosis.^[2] After contracting spinal meningitis two days later and never regaining consciousness, he died on January 5, 1924, in Rex Hospital in Raleigh at the age of 42.^[5][1][2] His funeral was held at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh.^[16] He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.^[3][16]

After his death, his widow married his brother, Herbert A. Sherwin, and lived in Greensboro, North Carolina.^[15][13]

• Observations on the status of corn growing in California. (College of Agriculture Agricultural Experiment Station Circular 70) Berkeley: University of California, August 1911
• The production of the lima bean: the need and possibility of its improvement. with George Wright Shaw. (College of Agriculture Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 224) Berkeley: University of California Publications, November 1911.^[17]

• Works by or about Melvin E. Sherwin at the Internet Archive
• Melvin E. Sherwin at Find a Grave